


A Sack of Potatoes

by Kaoru_chibimaster



Series: Gladnoct Week 2017 [6]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fluff, Gladnoct Week, M/M, Sparring, gladio likes to lift noct
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 05:47:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12881457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoru_chibimaster/pseuds/Kaoru_chibimaster
Summary: ...Noctis is not.





	A Sack of Potatoes

“Having fun?” Gladio grinned. He dodged to the right as a sword was thrown at him, the blue and orange sparks of warp magic quickly following, before lifting his own weapon before himself to block the retaliating swing.

“Think I’d be here if I wasn’t?” Noctis laughed, his eyes alight with adrenaline. He pushed Gladio’s attack off, swiftly moving into his own assault as he positioned into a thrust. Gladio caught sight of the move before it started, easily deflecting with a downward swing. The motion had nearly dragged Noctis to the ground, and he had to phase to avoid a side swing from the great sword.

“Don’t telegraph your attacks so easily,” Gladio quipped, momentarily falling out of his teasing demeanor to deliver advice in the most serious crownsguard persona he could whip up. Noctis rolled his eyes, smirking in amusement.

“You think a bunch of MTs and some animals are really gonna care if I telegraph a little. It’s not like I was too slow to carry it through,” he snorted, hopping back out of the range of another swing. Gladio pressed the attack this time, swinging repeatedly in a fashion similar to an Iron Giant. Similar, but not nearly as unwieldy. It forced Noctis to start blocking before he wasted all of his magic on phasing.

“Not too slow for some animals, but let a daemon catch you off guard. Let’s see where our dear prince ends up then,” Gladio said. His movements made a little more sense then, as if they were a physical demonstration of what Noctis needed to expect from a daemon fight. Not that he didn’t already know. They’d fought their fair share of daemons already.

“King,” Noctis piped in, grunting with the effort of holding Gladio’s attack off.

“Dear king, then. It won’t matter when you’re daemon chow on the side of the road.”

“‘ _When’_?”

Quick as lightning, certainly quicker than Noctis would’ve expected from a man of Gladio’s size, the shield lunged at Noctis, knocking the engine blade out of his hands in one swift motion and pushing him down with the flat of his blade in another, nearly launching the young king off of the haven. Noctis skidded across the surface, stopping just short of the edge. His sword disappeared in a flash of blue, summoned back into his armiger, and he squinted up at Gladio’s looming form in a mixture of pain and confusion. Slowly, he registered the self-satisfied smirk on the other man’s face.

“Yeah. ‘When’.”

Gladio offered a hand for Noctis to take, pulling his younger partner up easily and setting him steadily on his feet. “If it helps, which it should, you’re getting way better. You held out about half an hour longer than last time. That’s a big improvement, Noct.”

“Lots of practice, I guess,” Noctis rolled his shoulder, attempting to disguise it as a shrug. Gladio saw straight through the motion, sighing a bit dramatically as he pulled Noctis closer to him. The young king had only a small moment to stare questioningly at his shield before he was promptly hefted up over his shoulder.

“Umm…?”

“You’re right. Lots of practice. And you’ll be getting even more today when we start that hunt we took on, so enjoy the ride now.”

Noctis clung to Gladio’s tank top, gripping the fabric between his fingers as he watched the markings of the haven move from underneath the taller man. He frowned a bit at the treatment, reaching down to smack at Gladio’s butt in reprimand.

“I’m not a sack of potatoes you know. I can walk to the car just fine.”

Gladio didn’t react to the ass smack aside from a small snort.

“I’m sure you can. But I’m carrying you there, which I don’t have to do at all by the way, so like I said: enjoy the ride.”

Not like Noctis needed a reminder. Gladio was always picking him up when he found the opportunity…

Then again… Now that Noctis noticed it… Gladio _was_ always picking him up. He’d pick Noctis up in the morning to get him to wake up early. He’d pick Noctis up after training to walk him back to the tent or the car. He’d pick Noctis up after battle when he got injured, and would carry him over to the nearest flat surface to get him healed up. He’d pick Noctis up when he was joking around, holding him up under his armpits and swinging him around like a rag doll in a way he knew Noctis _hated_. He’d pick Noctis up sometimes when he just felt like it, giving him piggy back rides as they walked across the fields and plains or through deserts and forests. Gladio had always enjoyed holding some sort of physical contact with Noctis, be it through brushing his fingers against his prince’s skin or threading their fingers together or placing kisses on his forehead and nuzzling into his hair. But he certainly seemed to enjoy taking it a step further when he pulled Noctis into his arms and off of the ground.

If anything, Gladio was probably the one enjoying the ride more than Noctis was.

The black haired youth found himself grinning, amused and endeared, as Gladio set him down and allowed him to sit down in his usual seat, the larger man jogging around to the other side to sit down in his own spot. Settling back into the seat, he exhaled in relief as he got the chance to relax.

“How long till we reach Alstor, Iggy?” he asked, one arm over the car door and the other stretched out behind Noctis. He kept his eyes on Ignis even as his king scooted over to him and rested against his side, not noticing the expression on his boyfriend’s face.

“About half an hour, I’d say. Shouldn’t take too long if we stay on course,” Ignis replied, eyeing Prompto out of his periphery as he said the last part. The photographer sheepishly shrugged his shoulders, mumbling something about ‘good photo ops’ and ‘making memories’. Gladio accepted the answer, tightening his hold around Noctis. Amber eyes met cerulean for a moment as the shield looked down at him, a force of habit that had started as a precautionary look over and slowly turned into a loving gesture as their relationship had progressed. He raised an inquisitive eyebrow when he finally took notice of the grin Noctis was sporting.

“What’s got you so smiley?” he asked, poking at Noctis’ cheek with his other hand. The younger man’s grin only widened and he shook his head before turning his gaze to the road.

“Nothing. Just realized something.”


End file.
